There is the toleration of the philosopher to whom all religions are equally true; of the historian to whom all are equally false; and of the politician to whom all are equally useful. There is the toleration of the man who tolerates other modes of thought and behaviour because he has himself grown absolutely indifferent to all modes of thought and behaviour. There is the toleration of the weak man who, on account of sheer weakness, must pocket all kinds of insults heaped on things or persons that he holds dear.
Edward Gibbon is best known for his multi-volume book The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (published from 1776 to 1788). I have not been able to check his writings for tracing this excerpt but it was quoted by Iqbal with attribution to Gibbon in 'Islam and Ahmedism', an article published in January 1936.
hmm...
ReplyDeleteAnd i'm assuming that a Nation needs all three...
1- Philosophers
2- Historians
3- Politicians
With the layer of "man" on all of these (all of the above will come under "man" as well)....
i think...
Does last senetence mean:
ReplyDelete"one who pockets insults heaped on him by the people he holds dear, is quality of a weak man"?
@Riz: Yes, those are qualities of a weak person
ReplyDeleteSo acc to him, a man must not take insults by people, even by the "dear" ones? :/
ReplyDeleteIf yes, then there's a possibility that he believes in the statement "Respect your own self at any cost" - Err.. at extreme level...
@Riz: no, sorry. He meant that the dear ones are being insulted by others, NOT that the dear ones are insulting him
ReplyDeleteHeart was not accepting that BTW... Thank God I was wrong :D
ReplyDeleteThank you for clarifying the misconception Sir.
This seems to be about toleration.A philosopher sees all religions to be equal,a historian thinks they are equally false and the politicians think they are equally useful.
ReplyDeleteThen there is the man who is indifferent to all modes of thought and behaviour but he tolerates other modes of thought and behaviour.
However a weak man because of his weakness, has no choice but to tolerate insults inflicted on everything and everyone that is dear to him.
There is a definite pattern here:the philosopher,the historian
and the politician are free to give their opinion and so is the man who is indifferent about his modes of thought and behaviour but is free to tolerate other modes of thought and behaviour.
The only one who is not free to give his opinion is the weak man,his weakness makes him tolerate all the insults heaped on things and persons dear to him.This is what it means I think.
We all know everyone is nasty to people who are weak.
What do you think Mr. Shafique?
@Chaman: Yes, but I am sure that the world can be changed into a place where nobody is nasty to people who are weak - Marghdeen, or something like that
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